This is going to sound really sad, but I am ready to just walk away from the Middle East.

How about we just stop doing business there...Stop flying planes there ...stop issuing visas to anyone there ...deny all immigration from there ...Stop trading there ...Cut off the Internet top-level routing there ...Screw 'em. I am sick of caring about pretty much anything or anyone between Egypt, Turkey and Afghanistan.

rubi_con_man:This is going to sound really sad, but I am ready to just walk away from the Middle East.

How about we just stop doing business there...Stop flying planes there ...stop issuing visas to anyone there ...deny all immigration from there ...Stop trading there ...Cut off the Internet top-level routing there ...Screw 'em. I am sick of caring about pretty much anything or anyone between Egypt, Turkey and Afghanistan.

I agree. There is nothing that Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar or Iran have that we could possibly want.

How about we just stop doing business ...Stop flying planes ...stop issuing visas to anyone ...deny all immigration ...Stop trading ...Cut off the Internet ...

gorgon38:Russia and China will block anything to do with Syria, they can do as they please.

This. As such, I nominate Russia to do something about Syria, or not. But having seen the latest photos and video, Christ you can't un-see children who are the victims of chemical warfare. I wish this one had an easy answer, because it's about as jacked as a situation can be.

When I saw the images last night dead and dying kids all I personally could think of was the moment in the Punisher Dirty Laundry short where Frank is standing in the doorway watching the violence unfold outside and the liquor store owner sits there and says "Makes you wanna do something, doesn't it?"

And right now we're just standing in the doorway doing nothing, lamenting "There's always a war on somewhere"

Enough is farking enough. Strategically bomb Assad's army into the farking ground, institute a no fly zone and inform the rebels that in the end game when kids die whoever killed em is dying as well...no matter which side.

IdBeCrazyIf:When I saw the images last night dead and dying kids all I personally could think of was the moment in the Punisher Dirty Laundry short where Frank is standing in the doorway watching the violence unfold outside and the liquor store owner sits there and says "Makes you wanna do something, doesn't it?"

And right now we're just standing in the doorway doing nothing, lamenting "There's always a war on somewhere"

Enough is farking enough. Strategically bomb Assad's army into the farking ground, institute a no fly zone and inform the rebels that in the end game when kids die whoever killed em is dying as well...no matter which side.

This is still a no-win for the US, we either prop up a sociopathic dictator who's family has been nothing but a problem for three generations or we install alQaeda as the legitimate government of Syria.

I love how the US is expected to be the world's policeman until it's not. "Come give us aid and do our dirty work, but get the fark out and go to hell when it's resolved." You can't have it both ways, so which is it?

France can go fark themselves. Now they want us to intervene with a middle eastern country with chemical weapons? fark off.

Obama is looking really weak right now with Egypt and Syria. You don't even hear him condemning them. The Middle East is a mess right now and he isn't doing a damn thing. He/ we are allowing evil forces to win. Evil is killing innocents in Egypt. Evil is gassing innocents in Syria. We are allowing evil to spread, to win. If you allow evil there, don't be surprised when it shows up on your block too.

I_C_Weener:IdBeCrazyIf: When I saw the images last night dead and dying kids all I personally could think of was the moment in the Punisher Dirty Laundry short where Frank is standing in the doorway watching the violence unfold outside and the liquor store owner sits there and says "Makes you wanna do something, doesn't it?"

And right now we're just standing in the doorway doing nothing, lamenting "There's always a war on somewhere"

Enough is farking enough. Strategically bomb Assad's army into the farking ground, institute a no fly zone and inform the rebels that in the end game when kids die whoever killed em is dying as well...no matter which side.

pag1107:This is still a no-win for the US, we either prop up a sociopathic dictator who's family has been nothing but a problem for three generations or we install alQaeda as the legitimate government of Syria.

pag1107:This is still a no-win for the US, we either prop up a sociopathic dictator who's family has been nothing but a problem for three generations or we install alQaeda as the legitimate government of Syria.

France and England have everything to do with that. Their game of empire in the Middle East has been a root cause of a lot of the problems in the Middle East this last century.

SlothB77:Obama is looking really weak right now with Egypt and Syria. You don't even hear him condemning them. The Middle East is a mess right now and he isn't doing a damn thing. He/ we are allowing evil forces to win. Evil is killing innocents in Egypt. Evil is gassing innocents in Syria. We are allowing evil to spread, to win. If you allow evil there, don't be surprised when it shows up on your block too.

Yup. He's so weak by not spending billions of dollars and thousands of American lives on a war that solve nothing and put people in power that we can't control.

Enough is farking enough. Strategically bomb Assad's army into the farking ground, institute a no fly zone and inform the rebels that in the end game when kids die whoever killed em is dying as well...no matter which side.

The US doesn't exactly have the greatest track record in picking new governments in the Middle East.

The Muthaship:Just walk back the red line. How important is our word anyway?

For this administration? Since they'll call anyone who refuses to believe their promises a "racist," not very important at all. Like the Palestinians, the Obama Administration can make literally any promise they want and break them in the very same sentence, and honestly feel justified in doing so because keeping promises is something only their enemies in the evil white patriarchy would do, or expect anyone else to do, and they don't want to be the same as the people they hate.

/better make sure we never have a white male president again, because if we do, all the impossible promises Obama made will be collected on

Syria is not Lybia for several reasons. 1: Russia. 2: Israel 3: The rebels are at best the worst of the Muslim Brotherhood and terrorist at the worst. It is a mess, and if anything is done it should be done through the UN. Sorry to say that, but no thank you. It isn't that I'm unsympathetic, its that there is no clear outcome even if we do do something by ourselves except a bigger mess.

We have done something! barry has given several very strong "red line" speeches. If Syria wants to keep using these weapons they can expect a very harsh scolding via teleprompter probably from a golf course.

"Nothing practical, significant, has been done in the last two years in order to stop the continuing massacre of civilians carried out by the Assad regime," he said. "I think that the investigation of the United Nations is a joke." - Yuval Steinitz, Israeli Minister of Strategic Affairs

We're reaching the point where we can't always be DOING the help everyone with their shiat thing (not that we help most places we fark up with our awesome weapons, but hey... Korea I guess?) so it hardly matters. They won't be able to have it at all soon.

Standard rule is that the "international community" loves American power when it is used to protect their interests and concerns (ie escorting oil tanker that bring them their oil through the Persian Gulf -less than 5% of US oil imports come by that route, The Balkans, Somalia, Desert Storm) and it saves them from having to do any of the heavy lifting (The US flew 80% of the combat missions over Kosovo). But when the US acts in its own interests they tend to get their collective panties in a wad and snivel about unilateralism.

My rule is when you bring a proportionate share of resources/risks to the table (relative to population, economy etc) you get and equal say in how we do things until then STFU.

bearcats1983:I love how the US is expected to be the world's policeman until it's not.

I love how the US always pretend it's all about them.France: "We think the international community should do something." USA: "Oh noes, they want the USA to do everything in the world!"France didn't say anything about the US in particular. UN. Not US.

Enough is farking enough. Strategically bomb Assad's army into the farking ground, institute a no fly zone and inform the rebels that in the end game when kids die whoever killed em is dying as well...no matter which side.

The US doesn't exactly have the greatest track record in picking new governments in the Middle East.

We have a long history of that. Jefferson and Paine didn't waste any time fixing France.

Not exactly, but do you seriously think the French could pull something off by themselves? The only reason Lybia was successfulish is because the US did all the ground work and then supplied everybody with intelligence/support etc.

rubi_con_man:This is going to sound really sad, but I am ready to just walk away from the Middle East.

How about we just stop doing business there...Stop flying planes there ...stop issuing visas to anyone there ...deny all immigration from there ...Stop trading there ...Cut off the Internet top-level routing there ...Screw 'em. I am sick of caring about pretty much anything or anyone between Egypt, Turkey and Afghanistan.

This didn't use to be hard. Two or three dozen cruise missiles to make the cost of x higher than the price and move along with our lives. You don't have to beat them to a pulp, take them to the hospital, help them through physical therapy, find them a good job, and then have them knife you in the back.

Give them a good black eye and walk off. If they offend us by beating their wife in public again, repeat. If they actually hurt us directly in some way, go full Libya on them and then - this is key - walk the fark off. You break it you buy it isn't a hard and fast rule in international diplomacy. We don't need their oil, Israel can stick up for itself, fark them.

Enough is farking enough. Strategically bomb Assad's army into the farking ground, institute a no fly zone and inform the rebels that in the end game when kids die whoever killed em is dying as well...no matter which side.

The US doesn't exactly have the greatest track record in picking new governments in the Middle East.

We have a long history of that. Jefferson and Paine didn't waste any time fixing France.